The Team
Sources
The data for this project comes from FiveThirtyEight, an American political media outlet owned by ABC news. FiveThirtyEight sourced their data from a larger database from the Aviation Safety Network, a Flight Safety Foundation service. Our project works with the FiveThirtyEight dataset while understanding that it may contain bias and may not represent a wholly accurate picture.
By representing a sampling of available data, the FiveThirtyEight dataset encapsulates a multitude of factors, each representing a unique aspect of aviation safety and allows us to view broad trends. In addition to the FiveThirtyEight dataset, we used sources from the Lund University School of Aviation, Journal of Transportation Security, BBC News, and more.
The insights into airline crashes, government policies, and human error from these sources allowed us to analyze patterns in our data along with greater trends. Other sources we used include online articles, dissertations, and reports, all aiming to illuminate the many facets of aviation security
Processing
Our data processing occurred in multiple iterations. First, we set out to add additional data to supplement the data included in the FiveThirtyEight dataset. We located and input GDP, Military Spending, and more data in order to provide more factors for comparison for our review of data. We did this by downloading our dataset and setting it up in Google Sheets.
After this, we cleaned the data and began to create explorative visualizations in Tableau. These explorative visualizations allowed us to test our ideas and find patterns and connections in our data. For each data point, we explored the underlying correlations by employing statistical tools and techniques in Tableau to unearth trends and patterns. In light of the September 11th hijackings, we particularly focused on how government mandates, policies, and military spending might influence aviation safety. We also delved into the dataset on airline incidents, probing whether they were primarily due to human or mechanical errors, or perhaps a complex interplay of both. Our aim was to provide a nuanced perspective on aviation safety. We then created our final visualizations and maps.
Presentation
This site is made using WordPress. We chose to design a comprehensive, interactive website in order to present our findings with visual appeal. WordPress allowed us to structure our information in a user-friendly manner; organized tabs that guide the user through our project and key pages are linked throughout. Intuitive navigation and easy-to-use interface were key goals of ours when developing this website. Our visual design elements, including color and font, were chosen to be reminiscent of the aviation theme. When combined with our narrative, these visual aids help convey the complexities of aviation safety and the myriad of factors influencing it.
Acknowledgements
This project would not be possible without professor Dr. Sanders and our TA Anna Bonazzi. Thank you for your support –you have our sincere gratitude. After each project milestone, Anna rigorously examined our work to ensure our research was accurate and reliable. We appreciated the attention to detail in her feedback. Dr. Sanders lectures’ and the abundance of digital resources she provided were crucial to the development of this project. The tutorials on how to optimally use Tableau were particularly useful. Additionally, we are grateful to the authors and organizations whose work has greatly informed our research. We appreciate the technological tools and platforms that facilitated our data analysis, visualization, and the creation of our interactive website. In particular, we would like to acknowledge humspace for hosting our website, and you for taking the time to read it!